Superior Species
by Cananatra
Summary: Taylor triggers with an alternate power. She's Earth Bet's first wraith queen. Will she control her newfound power or will she allow it to control her?


Ok, I thought staring at myself in the mirror. Let's break this down into pro's and con's. Since my life has mostly been made up of con's so far I guess I'll start there. The bullying hadn't stopped in fact it had gotten worse, much worse. I'd been shoved in a locker full of absolute filth which on examination turned out to have been used tampons left to fester for god only knows how long. Nobody outside had helped me even though I know for certain they could hear me and to top the vile experience off my glasses broke when I was shoved in and I'm fairly sure blinded me in my left eye. Right. That's definitely a major set of Cons. My gaze locked on my reflection in the mirror opposite me. It was blurry and covered in gunk but I could still see myself fairly clearly. 

And that vision right there leads me right to the Pro section. I triggered while in that locker with a power that, quite usefully I must add, let me launch the locker door clean across the hall. So certainly a Pro as it got me out of the locker. Brute rating flickered at the back of my mind. Unfortunately that led straight on to a Con. I triggered right in the middle of school in a fairly spectacular fashion and judging by the camera phones I could see while I ran, I was almost certainly outed. Of course the fact that I've grown five or so inchs, my hair has turned white and my skin is now pale with a blue-green tint to it would make not outing myself rather difficult anyway. Let's not forget the visit from the muscle man, because I'm more or less ripped right now and the boob fairly certainly had a passing interest as I'm now what feels like a c-cup. Honestly that makes this piece hard to determine for the pro/con list. I'll come back to it later. 

Spinning on my heel I leave the mirror behind and hop backwards to sit on the counter. The rest of the bathroom in the abandoned warehouse come office space is as dull and grimy as the mirror. Which somewhat brings my next pro and con duo back to mind. My eyes are now yellow and vertically slit, however as evidenced by my seeing clearly in a room with no windows or working lights I clearly have night vision. Considering the rest of my appearance is already screaming cape to anyone with half a brain this doesn't strike me as a bad trade so let's chalk that up to the pro column. I raise my hands to rub at my face in a vague attempt to rub reality back to normal. Of course nothing changes though I do remind myself of those odd divots in the skin over my cheek bones. No idea what they are but they do kinda fit the look so, meh. Of course having my hands at eye level shows nails halfway to being claws which I suppose is somewhat cool and a weird sort of gash in the palm of my hands that I can open to show, well, something. Still haven't figured out what it is or what it does. 

Running out of Winslow, we'll call that a pro for a day off because right now I really need more pro's for this situation. I'd punted Sofia into a locker when she tried to stop me, take that bitch. Of course that has the really huge con of assault with a parahuman power, though I couldn't bring myself to care for her wellbeing. And that leads right back to here as I clench my fists. I'm not entirely certain how much of what I'm feeling is fear, although it's certainly there in large amounts, and how much is anger. The bitch done this to me and nobody is going to believe me, they'll believe the pretty popular girl and the track star and I'll be labelled as a villain right off the bat. A monster. Hell I'm fairly sure the PRT is already at my house. Huzzah brain even while panicking you worked well enough to not run me home and instead hid. 

Sliding off the counter I walk out of the bathroom, the rust coated spring on the door easily giving way to my enhanced strength. Still getting a kick out of that even through everything else. The corridor outside is lit ever so slightly by moonlight and anaemic street lights outside the solitary window. Seriously whoever had built up these offices inside this warehouse had done a poor job of it. Almost no natural light anywhere. Then again it is in the docks, in what is now considered merchant territory. Even way back when, this building would have just been a quick and dirty storage space for some company which later learned it needed offices. I could feel a cool breeze across my midriff as I walked down the corridor, the half melted snow outside would suggest I should be very cold but clearly my powers were dealing with that. And hey, cool six-pack rather than paunch so I actually was less bothered then I normally would have been. Still had to get some clothes that fit me though. I can't just go around in what I wore to school, way too easy to pick me out. 

Looking at the faint light a thought came to me. Night time would be a good time to get what I needed. I wasn't totally ok with stealing from a shop in the middle of the night but I definitely needed some concealing clothes at the very least. It'd probably be covered by their insurance, that's how that works, probably. I should pick up some food too if I could. I wasn't feeling all that hungry right now but that was likely due to stress, as it had been a good twelve hours since I'd eaten anything substantial. No doubt I'd wake up starving tomorrow morning so best to have something to eat ready. I certainly didn't want to risk going out in the day to get supplies. Not that the whole three dollars I had to my name right now would cover it even if by some miracle they didn't notice what I was. 

Walking down the hall to the half open window I'd used to get into the building I looked down at the alleyway outside. A good fifteen foot drop onto poorly maintained concrete. Of course I figure if I could jump up and grab the ledge under the window I should have no problem dropping back down. That's how physics works isn't it? Shrugging to myself I climbed out the window and lowered myself as far as I could before dropping. 

My stomach briefly rose in my chest with the freefall before my feet met concrete. At this point I could say my powers failed me but no. The awkward squawk and face-plant was one hundred percent Taylor Hebert. I hadn't hurt anything when I landed, I'd just never actually done that before and it seems balance was less easy then certain online video's may have suggested. Pushing myself back to my feet and brushing a significant amount of filth off me I soon realised the height boost made properly covering myself almost impossible. Even hunched over my top rode up to show skin and my ankles had a distinct trouser-less feeling to them. Of course the cold wasn't so much of an issue. I could feel the wind, and I could feel that it was bloody cold, I could see my breath after all but it didn't make me cold. Clearly I was hot stuff now. The joke, weak though it may have been, raised my spirits slightly and with that I began making my way back to a slightly less run down part of the city. I figured in the dark my unusual skin colour wouldn't stand out too much to normal vision even if to my eyes it was glaringly obvious. 

8888 

The next twenty minutes passed with surprisingly little issue. Sure I'd come across a handful of people who looked like they might be Merchants but I could see in the dark and they couldn't so it was surprisingly easy to make my way around them. Which left me where I was now, in an alleyway behind a general store. It seemed to do a bit of everything so hopefully I could get everything I needed with one break-in. And wasn't that a disgusting thought. Note to self, try to pay them back in the future, somehow. 

The back door to the shop was sheet metal with a padlocked latch just above the keyhole. Clearly being on the edge of the docks meant whoever owned the shop locked up in as impressive a manner as they could to deter theft. Brute powers activate! At least I could pretend this is some sort of test. I reached forward and wrapped my hand around the padlock. I didn't think I'd be punching any holes in the door. My powers didn't seem that good. Nevertheless I began to pull on the padlock, increasing the strength slowly. It didn't seem to be having all that much of an effect, right up until it was and the padlock popped open in my hand with a little click. It still looked intact but when I tried closing it again, after taking it off the latch of course, it just popped right back open. Must have broken something inside it. Not as impressive as crumpling the lock or breaking the bar but it worked. Clothes here I come. 

Trying the doorknob revealed much as to be expected. Also locked, the knob not even budging as I tried to twist it. Tricky thing these doorknobs, being all round and not at all that easy to get a grip on. Which I had to be fair was probably the whole point of spherical doorknobs. Time to pull out my secret technique, two hands. This seemed to go much better as I could actually feel the cheap metal of the doorknob begin to distort under my fingers which was both kind of cool and meant I had an even better grip on it. 

Like that padlock before it the locks mechanism gave way with a sudden snap. I may not be strong enough to break the tough bits of the lock but its little fiddly bits died a death under my power. Come to think of it I was fairly lucky the door lock was one of these types. Normally breaking a door handle doesn't open the lock. I'll put that into a pro column for today, sure it might be cheating but I feel like any luck right now can be counted. Pulling the door open I tensed for the sound of an alarm but when none sounded I slowly edged inside and pulled the door closed behind me. I guess not all shops have alarms, learn something every day. 

The shop was dark without any light making its way through the roll down shutters over the front windows. A problem my new eyes dealt with handily. I could see it was exactly as I hoped it would be, a generous mix of just about everything. Jogging down the aisles of the clothes section I moved to the back and grabbed a backpack. Mine was still in school, well probably in an evidence locker somewhere, so I needed a replacement to carry stuff. From there it was straight to underwear and socks including a couple of sports bra's which I actually needed now. Eh probably needed, they didn't bounce around as much as I expected when jogging here. A couple of pairs of jeans two sizes above my old one. I didn't have time to try anything on but two sizes up should be close enough. Same with six t-shirts. The backpack was beginning to look a little full now so the boots I grabbed I tied to the outside. One size up here as my sneakers only felt a little tight on my feet right now. As I was about to leave the clothes section I saw what had to be the best coat for my current problems. A long dark trench coat, double breasted and flaring below the waist. I quickly threw it on and found it fit very well for such a quick grab and then headed towards the food aisles. 

What room was left in my backpack was quickly filled by junk food. I had no way to prepare anything and besides I had a horrible day so I deserved something nice. I shoved a bottle of coke under the flap of the backpack and now it was time to make like a tree and leave. I couldn't shake the worry that at any second someone would walk in or I'd hear sirens approaching. Besides I had everything I needed for now. So with careful steps I left and closed the door behind me before leaving the alley and starting down the street. 

"Gonna shank a Bitch!" the shout erupted from behind me followed by running feet. Spinning on the spot I saw four men run into the circle of light cast by the streetlight I'd just left. None of them the healthiest looking of individuals and clearly wearing Merchant colours. Well fuck, this was certainly going in the con column for today. 

"Think ya can lift from a store on our turf skank? You ain't no Merchant." he shouted with spittle flying everywhere as they spread out. I might have been able to outrun them if I hadn't stopped at the first shout but they were close enough to jump me if I turned my back on them now. Two of them carried short lengths of pipe while the other two pulled out small switchblades. For a moment terror locked my limbs as my eyes fell onto the knives before a overpowering surge of contempt flushed it away. These scum really thought they could take me? 

With a snarl I darted towards the right most Merchant, coming fully into the pool of light cast by the streetlamp. His eyes widened in fear as he got a good look at me before the back of my right fist slammed into his chest. The backhand lifted him clean off his feet and tossed him out of the pool of light with a sickening crunch. An instant later my left foot snapped out in a poorly executed kick which slammed into the hip of the next Merchant. I could feel bone shift under the blow and the junkie went down with a scream of pain. I hopped over him as I went for the third who was by now able to bring his pipe to bear. 

"Cape" he screamed as he swung the pipe at my head. I tried to grab the pipe as it came at me and completely missed. The steel pipe sweeping past my grasping hand and cracking against my jaw. The only thing I could really think of as I stumbled slightly away from the blow was that that should have hurt a hell of a lot more than it did. He tried to follow up on his success but this time I caught the blow on my forearm, my free hand buried its fist in his stomach. His eyes rolled up into his head as he went limp. How does that even work? I hit his stomach. Now for number four as I stepped around the falling number three. 

A flash cut the dimness alongside a sharp crack and a hammer slamming into my stomach. Did he just? A second flash and this time the hammer slammed into one of my ribs punching deep into my chest. Fuck, gun. The third flash never came as something seemed to go wrong with the pistol. A Jam I realised as my hand seemed to draw back of its own accord. This piece of absolute gutter filth dared to shoot me. I could feel blood soaking my top as I stepped forward, my lung feeling heavy as I took a breath. My arm launching forward towards him accompanied by a bubbling snarl hitting his chest and pushing him back until his back pit the lamp post. I could feel something give way below the palm of my hand as I pinned him in place. His eyes widening comically as the muscles seemed to stand out in slow motion on his neck. 

And then bliss, pure ecstasy running in a golden stream up my arm. A warmth so intense it felt like it should have burned spreading through my shoulder and into my chest. My eyes closed in pleasure. Caressing lightning ran through my torso dipping down towards my stomach and winding around the side of my chest. I could feel the bullets shifting around inside me as they began to be pushed out. The flesh knitting behind them in sparks of heat, my lung clearing and the pain muting and running out of me. Displaced by the glorious warmth which flowed in quick pulsed up my arm, filling a void inside me I didn't even know I had until that point. 

An instant or an hour later something struck the back of my head knocking me off balance. My eyes snapped open as I began to stumble, time still moving in slow motion. Before me, below my hand the merchant who had looked like a man in his late twenties after a bad life now looked like a seventy year old famine victim. Skin hanging loosely from his bones drawn into a grimace of pain. Face framed with a shock of white hair and eyes clouded. As my hand came loose from his chest time seemed to snap back to normal and I took two quick steps to catch myself before spinning to face this new attack. To my left the Merchant fell to his knees but I simply couldn't bring myself to care about him right now. 

My eyes snapped to the newest attacker before I froze. Standing not twenty feet away was Miss Militia, a green shotgun with a disturbingly large barrel and flicking slightly with its own light braced and facing me. Beanbag round, the term flashed into my mind from reading PHO. This was certainly not where I wanted to be tonight. Caught robbing a shop the same night I attack a school. Miss Militia's eyes dip right, widen slightly before narrowing as they snap back to me. A pit opens up in my stomach. Merchant number four, drained and in desperate need of a casket. Oh Fuck this is not going to end well. The gun in her hands flickered for a moment becoming something sleeker with a magazine sticking out the bottom. 

I dive to the side, being shot hurts and I'm not intending it happen again. The first shot misses, as does the second and third as I leave the pool of light. The fourth hits me as I roll to my feet, right in the boob. Damnit that stings but isn't hammering through my chest so she's not using real bullets. I can feel the heat still in my chest, some of it breaking off in little sparks to ease the pain. Right so warm lightning is healing. Spinning around I take off, pushing myself as fast as I can go aiming for the nearest alleyway. My heart beat pounding in my ears I feel two more strikes against my back but with my toughness and that healing heat I don't even flinch. She shouts something but I can't make it out over the sounds of my own breathing. Not like I intend to just march myself calmly into the birdcage anyway. 

The next shot slams into the back of my calf and explodes out my shin. Fuck bullets again. My next step landing on that leg collapses causing me to stumble, bouncing off a wall. It's obvious she expects me to go down from that hit but I can feel the lightning exploding down my leg from my chest burning in the wound. When my foot comes down again it holds my weight though doesn't give much push off for running. The third foot strike holds and I accelerate again almost at the alley. Another hammer slams into me from behind, in the shoulder this time as I round the corner. Two more snap past the alley entrance I've disappeared down. 

My eyes piece the gloom of the alley and allow me to easily vault over or dodge around any object. I can't hear any shots from behind me and with my leg by now already completely healed. I know from PHO that miss militia has no mover rating so there's no chance she'll be catching me at this point. Not in a chase through a darkened alley. I can feel the lightning working on the shoulder wound though worryingly it feels like there is less of it in my chest now. Obviously a limited resource. It's working slower too so it seems my regeneration is something I'm going to have to husband carefully. 

I had just crossed a street and ducked into another alley when my world decided to go on a carnival ride as something clotheslined me with enough force to flip me completely over backwards. I managed to land more or less on my feet crouched low. Looking around I could see a muscled man in red loop through the air as he came around for another charge. Aegis my cape fangirl informed me, flying brute with adaptive biology. Fuck. Of course they patrol in pairs. 

"Target in sight, I can take it." he spoke into a mike in a loud voice. IT? Did that asshole really just refer to me as an it? I didn't really want to hurt a hero, but then again it doesn't count against Aegis does it? I'd just avoid the hand thing, until I had that figured out. Rising to my full height I began to run, counter charging his swooping dive. I'd half expected a collision of fists with one being tossed back, that didn't happen. His fist slammed into my face while mine cracked against his shoulder. I felt his fingers snapping in contact with cheek while at the same time my cheekbone gave way. Similarly two of my fingers broke while what I thought was his collar bone shattered. We both bounced down the alley with Aegis' remaining momentum arms and legs tangled with one another. 

I could feel my power crackling through my body repairing the broken bones and flaring over and over in short bursts as we bounced off what felt like dumpsters. As we eventually slid to a halt I made a nice discovery. Even while Aegis slammed punches into my arms to break my grip on him I realised I was significantly stronger then the Hero in a grappling situation where he couldn't use his powers of flight to get a run up. My return punches, while clumsier, were far more effective. I could feel things giving way whenever I landed a solid shot but Aegis's powers made that less effective than it might have been. We seemed stalemated, something he seemed to realise at the same time as he began to lift off. I started to slide across the ground as he clearly wasn't sure what direction was what. To be fair neither was I. 

As we bounced off a dumpster I managed to hook a foot around one of its wheels and arrest our random bouncing about. Crunching my stomach muscles I pulled us both up and slammed Aegis against the side of the dumpster, stunning him for an instant. With the time that bought me I readjusted my grip and slammed him against it again, repeating until I managed to get my feet under me and stood up. Ignoring the flailing of his arms which showed just how disorientated he was I pulled him upright and slammed him face first into the ground before grabbing the dumpster and rolling it over onto him. It was heavy enough he couldn't lift it with his flight powers and the angle meant no leverage, or at least that was the theory. 

I wasted a brief couple of seconds staring at his lower half sticking out from under the dumpster before cringing as I realised I was staring at his ass. On the other hand he acted like an ass so with a quick chuckle I delivered a ringing slap to his ass and ran for it. They'd no doubt get someone to help him soon and I had enough getting shot and fighting hero's for the night. 

8888 

My luck held, for perhaps the first time that day and I made it back to my warehouse deep in the docks just as dawn began to lighten the sky. I'd taken the long way around to make sure I wasn't being followed. I was quite relieved to get back here. Intellectually I knew it wasn't any safer then anywhere else but it felt like mine right now and that was good enough. Sitting in one of the windowless offices I pulled off my brand new trench coat, now slightly the worse for wear, and examined myself. Definitely holes in my shirt and a small amount of blood, blue which was somewhat freaky, but certainly less than I would have expected. So it seemed my, call it base level, regeneration would fairly effectively stop bleeding and heal on its own. 

My heat healing, my hand rose to rest on my chest, was the super fix-it type but was limited in uses. I could feel it coiled in the centre of my chest with ghosts of it pulsing down both my arms. This was an issue though. I'd put it out of my mind in the fighting and running but it was really fucked up. Pulling my hand back from my chest I focused on the palm of my hand and opened the slit on it. So at least I knew what it done now, it was a life stealing vampire hand. Not what I would have put on my Christmas list for powers. Perhaps what was more worrying was that I didn't regret it. I know I should feel bad for killing him but I just don't. I'd read before that some powers change how the parahuman views the world so that must be what this is. My instincts are all telling me its fine but my old morals disagree. 

On the other hand death is death and he had tried to kill me. So perhaps I could reach a middle ground with my powers instincts. I'd only use it in self defence. I might not have the option of being a hero but I could at least prove I wasn't a total monster as the trio were probably painting me. 

Reaching into my bag I pulled out a chocolate bar. I wasn't all that hungry but that was probably down to all the excitement. Still the chocolate tasted exactly how I remembered it so that was a comfort. Savouring the bar I pulled on my coat. I wasn't cold but it was nice to snuggle into the cloth. Finishing eating I lay down using my bag as a pillow and closed my eyes. This had been one hell of a long day.


End file.
